Tuscany Press, a publisher of Catholic fiction, recently announced an increase in its Tuscany Prize money for Catholic novels, young adult novels and short stories. It’s not just the dough Tuscany’s offering, but a publishing contract as well.

The Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction is offering $5,000 for the first-place prize for a novel, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third; all three winners will get a contract. The winner of the young adult novel competition will get $3,000 and a contract.

There will be 10 awards for short stories, ranging from $100 to $1,000, and each of the winning entries will be compiled into an anthology volume with an editor’s introduction and discussion questions. In all, Tuscany Press is handing out more than $13,000 in prize money to lucky — and talented — writers.

Tuscany Press says is looking for “themes of faith and struggle, of grace and nature, atonement, courage redemption and hope.” As for the genre of fiction, it can be historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, humor or straight-up fiction. And if you’ve already self-published your work, that’s OK, too.

There’s a $10 entry fee, but that’s a relative pittance compared to the prize that can be won.

Tuscany Press held up as one example “The Book of Jotham” by Arthur Powers, which had been collecting dust for 20 years until it was submitted in Tuscany’s 2012 competition. Not only did it win and get published, but “The Book of Jotham” is now also available in Spanish.

A good place to start is to read the contest details. The deadline for submissions is June 30.